Sustainable Communities - Inspiring Stories

The Kapiti Horowhenua Electric Roads Project

The Kāpiti Coast will soon be home to five new electric vehicle charging stations with thanks to a successful funding bid to the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA). This is a significant step to support sustainable, low-carbon transport options, aligning with the government goal to reach a target of having 64,000 electric vehicles on New Zealand roads by 2021. Read more

update: The first of two vehicle (EV) fast charging stations in Kāpiti has just opened at PAK'nSAVE in the Coastlands Mall. Three further locations will be opening in coming months at Paekākāriki, Raumati Beach, Waikanae Beach. Read more

Love Food Hate Waste Stall visits the Parparaumu Farmers Market

On Saturday 10 March we attended the Paraparaumu farmers market in conjunction with Organic Wealth to promote the 'Love Food Hate Waste' campaign- and we are pleased to say it was a great success! So what’s this 'Love Food Hate Waste' campaign all about, you may ask?

Council’s Sustainable Communities team was at Coastella again this year supporting the event’s Zero Waste kaupapa in a slightly indirect, but highly interactive way. After last years extremely popular Kokedama making workshop, this year we challenged ourselves to run a Zero Waste musical instrument making workshop. Read more

Becoming a Locovore

In 2018 the Sustainable Communities programme will be embarking on a ‘Locovore’ journey – exploring the advantages and importance of eating locally produced food. With over 30% of the average New Zealander's eco-footprint coming from food, eating local has huge benefits for our local environment, economy and communities. So how does one become a Locovore?

I recently visited the Dream Catcher Co-op, based at the Windsor Park Orchard in Te Horo. Co-op member Reece Baker showed me around their HQ, which is the shop space at the orchard. The co-op buys from local growers and are putting into action their belief that making ‘really good kia affordable’ is central to building community. Read more

Free For All

Two years ago, Free For All began with a passion for saving useable items from landfill. Founder Dee Glentworth was volunteering in an Op Shop in Wellington when she decided to try and rehome the excess - items the Op Shop couldn’t sell and that would otherwise have been disposed of – via free garage sales. These have now launched www.freeforall.co.nz to make Free For All’s services available at all times, at all places. Read more

The rise of social enterprise in Kāpiti

Many community and environmentally minded people have amazing ideas for how to make meaningful change for our people and our planet - the challenge is how to put ideas into action in a way that is self sustaining. Recently, Council brought the Ākina to Kāpiti to run social enterprise workshops and a panel discussion. Read more

Ōtaki College students top EVolocity competition

It was an awesome day with a really good atmosphere when two teams of ŌTAKI College students raced the electric vehicles that they'd built from scratch in the regional EVolocity Competition. Their challenge was to design, build and then race an electric vehicle against other schools. Read more

October 2017

Waikanae joins the war on rats

Jean Fleming and Pam Sinclair are on a mission to rid Waikanae of rats. As part of the newly formed Waikanae Rat Pack, they have enlisted the help of the Kāpiti Menzshed, in Waikanae Beach to build affordable and effective traps for Waikanae households. Read more.

Child care seats now recyclable

A recycling service for child car restraints has hit the Kāpiti Coast with the aim of protecting our environment and our kids. Kāpiti Coast District Council and Midwest Disposals Ltd are partnering with SeatSmart to offer the recycling programme for expired or damaged car seats to residents. Read more.

August 2017

Pro tips for plastic free living

Trying to make a difference amid the tide of modern disposable plastic felt a bit like being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, say Rachel Benefield. Until she found a solution when attending one of the Rubbish Trip’s Zero Waste talks.

She and her family have dramatically reduced their plastic waste. Rachel is combining her artistic talents and activist drive to share with others the hows and whys of plastic free living. Read more.

Students from Paraparaumu College’s environmental group are taking action to deter people from littering in some well-frequented areas of Kāpiti. The group designed an anti-littering sign with a bit of advice from Council’s waste minimisation officer and installed two of them in Otaihanga domain and one at Waikanae estuary in May. Read more.

May 2017

Waste Free Nomads kick start the Rubbish Trip

As a prelude to the “The Rubbish Trip”, Wellingtonians Hannah Blumhardt and Liam Price visited Kāpiti to share their story of life without a rubbish bin. Their series of kids workshops and evening presentations were engaging and informative, providing food for thought on why to think twice about getting your next flat white ‘to go’. Read more.

April 201

Kokedama ball buzz at Coastella

Sun, great music, a cool venue and a happy, positive vibe were an excellent combination of things that made for a great day out at Coastella in late February. We, the Council Green Team were there offering a spot of gardening for the festival goers - possibly not what you’d expect to see at a music festival! Read more.

March 2017

Kāpiti events commit to Zero Waste

This summer, several Kāpiti events have had a lot of fun without a lot of waste. Adopting a “Zero Waste” philosophy means focusing on reducing the amount of resources consumed, and on keeping the materials that are used in cycles, so that anything that’s discarded becomes a resource for something else. Read more.

Secrets for setting up The Good Life

Want to keep chickens or grow veges, but struggle to find the time? Making it easy is the secret for a Raumati couple. Read more

This summer a team of Kāpiti Coast creatives launched an interactive multimedia project aimed at positive action around climate change and the overuse of plastic in our society. Leading the team is award-winning playwright Rachel Callinan, with theatre stalwart Julia Truscott, artist Kaia Hawkins and renowned producer Zelda Edwards. Read more

December 2016

Eco Christmas tips

Take the waste of Christmas and save money while sharing the joy…Read more

An Eco Christmas gift pick

To find Christmas gifts that tick all Eco Christmas boxes take a trip to one of the many local markets in Kāpiti. Held regularly in Parparaumu Beach, Ōtaki, Waikanae , Te Horo, and Paekākāriki, these markets provide an excellent opportunity to buy from local producers, while enjoying the buzz of people and sensory delights. Read more.

November 2016

Eco Action students urge Government to choose clean water

“I remember when I was ‘this tall’, playing in the Paekākāriki stream, having the time of my life. Now, walking past this waterway brings back such amazing memories, but it's tragic that I can’t create any new ones to pass on through the generations.”

Sophie Handford from Kāpiti College Eco action group recently spoke about the state of her local stream at a Parliamentary Environment select committee hearing on the Choose Clean Water petition.Read more.

October 2016

This term the Kāpiti Environmental Educators Network held their hui at Tū Roa kōhanga reo in Ōtaki, getting together to share ideas including the secrets to a bumper kūmara harvest and how to make delicious power balls. Read more

September 2016

EVolocity

EVolocity is a charitable organisation running a program in high schools where teams design and build electric vehicles; growing interest in pursuing engineering studies and careers while also growing youth awareness of the environmental and performance benefits of electric transportation.

We are looking for representatives on the Kāpiti Coast to sell affordable electric bikes, as well as sales and installation of retrofit kits to convert existing bikes to electric. Read more

Kāpiti residents of all ages can learn practical skills, get out and enjoy our environment and have fun together during the Council’s No.8 Wire Week, that runs from 16 to 24 July. The individual events are being run all over the district in partnership with community groups and local DIY experts. Workshops include keeping bees and chickens, making compost, crafts and weaving, building for the garden, cooking skills, trapping pests and more.Read more.

Working in a shop at the mall can be very convenient when it comes to lunchtime. Plenty of choice, everything is ready within minutes, so you’re fed and back at work in no time. After living this life of lunch luxury for a while though, started to think about the huge amount of rubbish - wrapping, plastic trays and boxes, serviettes, sachets, holders, disposable cutlery and cups - EVERY DAY! Surely there had to be a better way? Read more.

June 2016

Volunteers – Kāpiti’s sustainable workforce

Dictionary.com defines sustainability as ‘the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed’. A sustainable community then, is one whose levels of service to its people can be continuously upheld even in times of adversity or disaster; citizens do not suffer a withdrawal of benefits. Who does this job? In large part, volunteers do!

This month, in partnership with Volunteer Kāpiti, we are launching a Volunteer Opportunities page. Find out how you can get involved, learn skills and give back to your community through becoming a volunteer. Read more.

Love Food, Hate Waste, Save Money

The average New Zealand family throws away three full shopping trolleys of uneaten food each year, adding up to more than $560 of food going to waste. The Love Food Hate Waste website draws awareness to our behaviours around consuming and throwing out food, with a range of informative solutions and tips. Read more.

Kāpiti residents are invited to take pride in our DIY kiwi culture this Winter and participate in No8 Wire Week. This a great opportunity to get hands-on while learning new skills and sharing knowledge with each other, including our tamariki. We are calling for your input to shape this new event. Read more.

Working together for Greener Neighbourhoods

The Council is again supporting the Greener Neighbourhood competition, with a $2,000 award up for grabs for the neighbourhood that makes the most significant progress. Read more

Revealing the quincessentials

The long, mellow autumn has brought a plentiful harvest each Thursday to Transition Town Ōtaki’s community fruit and vegetable stall. Quinces are especially abundant this year, but seem to be a mystery to many who come to the stall. Find out the secret to cooking a perfect quince, and more on how the Season Surplus stall operates. Read more

April 2016

Meeting those we live alongside is the first step in creating healthy, resilient communities. People all over the district got into the spirit of Neighbours’ Day Aotearoa with gatherings small and large. While each group celebrated their community in there own unique way, old school hospitality was common to all. Read more.

Around 250 little and not-so-little helpers turned rubbish into art at Ōtaki Kite Festival, building a spectacular sea monster on the beach to highlight the issue of ocean pollution. Read more.

This month Raumati residents are being given the opportunity to rid their properties of irksome pests, thanks to a community initiative whose aim is to make Raumati South a rat free area. The Raumati South Residents Association in conjunction with the newly formed Raumati Rat Pack, are inviting residents to come along to a 'make your own' rat trap making workshop. Here participants will help assemble the DOC designed rat-traps, which are built to exclude ground birds and pets, conforming to the NAWAC guidelines for humane traps. Read more.

When thousands of small polystyrene balls mysteriously washed up on Kāpiti beaches recently, the local community and two council staff members came to the rescue! Read more.

This year’s Neighbours’ Day celebration in Kāpiti focuses on community spirit, resilience, sustainable living and cultural diversity.Two special events will be taking place in the Kāpiti district. Residents are encouraged to register and organise an ‘Over the Fence Cuppa’ and have a get-together with others in their neighbourhood. There is also an International Cultural Gathering at the Community Centre in Paraparaumu to join in. Read more.

February 2016

When it comes to transport, cycling is 'the new black' in Kāpiti. New cycle tracks, community bike lending, the recycling of unused bikes, free maintenance workshops and cycle skills courses are helping to make getting out on your bike easy, affordable and fun. Read more.

The Waikanae Kindergarten toothbrush recycling scheme is going strong, so far they have sent sent off 4606 items for recycling. Read mor

December 2015

The Green Team held a make-your-own Christmas decoration workshop at the Raumati South Christmas Market, where many locally made treasures were to be found. Read more.

The Kapiti Fresh Organic Food Co-operative held their AGM and celebrated six years of making organic food affordable for local families. Read more.

Royal Society of New Zealand held ‘The Age of Resilience’, a series of panel discussions that brought together New Zealand and French experts to discuss the challenges posed by climate change. Read more.